Player Updates

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said Sunday that the competition for the closing role between Bradley, Brad Boxberger and Yoshihisa Hirano remains "wide open," Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports.

With Fernando Rodney leaving for Minnesota earlier in the offseason, Bradley initially looked like the top in-house option to take the ninth-inning mantle, but the Diamondbacks' winter pickups of Boxberger and Hirano has clouded the back-end bullpen roles. With Boxberger having not pitched in Cactus League play since Feb. 23 while battling general arm soreness, Bradley and Hirano may have inched ahead in the competition, but Lovullo will presumably wait until near the end of spring training before naming a closer. In the event Bradley doesn't inherit the closing role, the Diamondbacks have had the right-hander stretch out this spring so that he can be used as a multi-inning weapon out of the bullpen when needed.

After throwing the pitch 7.1 percent of the time in 2016, Bradley threw just one changeup in all of 2017. The pared-down arsenal made sense as Bradley converted to a relief role, as he no longer needed to keep hitters off balance multiple times through the order. If Bradley feels confident in the pitch, though, there's no harm in introducing an additional weapon to his profile. It's too early to tell whether the pitch will be effective (both of the hits Bradley gave up Tuesday against the Giants came off of changeups), but if reports are positive, it could help Bradley reach another level this season.

Bradley will compete with Brad Boxberger and Yoshihisa Hirano for the D-backs' closer role this spring, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports.

While there is little doubt that Bradley has the talent to become an excellent closer, the D-backs may prefer to use him in a more flexible high-leverage role in the late innings, leaving him to handle difficult spots any time in the seventh inning or later, allowing him to get more than three outs at a time when necessary. Even if he's not getting regular save chances, Bradley's potential for a heavy relief workload with a good strikeout rate and strong ratios should make him a useful option in many formats in 2018.

Diamondbacks' Archie Bradley: Struggles on mound, but drives in two Wednesday

by RotoWire Staff | RotoWire

Bradley was tagged for two runs on back-to-back home runs and gave up three hits in total while covering 1.1 innings and gathering a hold Wednesday in the Diamondbacks' 11-8 win over the Rockies in the National League wild-card game.

After retiring the Rockies' final batter of the seventh inning, Bradley stayed in the contest to make a rare pinch-hitting appearance, and was able to come through with a critical, two-out, two-run triple to give the Snakes some breathing room. He would go on to give back both runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning, but was ultimately able to escape the frame with the Diamondbacks clinging to a lead. Despite his shaky outing, Bradley is still regarded as manager Torey Lovullo's go-to relief ace, so expect the 25-year-old to routinely cover multiple innings in high-leverage spots when needed throughout the Diamondbacks' postseason run.

Bradley pitched the eighth inning and gave up two runs on three hits while striking out a batter in the Diamondbacks' 13-11 win over the Marlins on Friday.

Though Bradley yielded more than one run in an appearance for just the second time all season, he was still able to come away with his team-leading 25th hold after exiting while the Diamondbacks maintained a 12-11 lead. Despite only having one save to his name this season, Bradley has made for an excellent roster option in deeper 5x5 mixed leagues throughout the season thanks to a 1.41 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 76:18 K:BB over 70 innings.